I know nothing of McCay's Little Nemo, but that clip looked awesome. I never saw this thread before. There might be a duplicate Myazaki thread out there. But I hope he pulls out something like this before he retires - something going back to the fun pictures of earlier. Castle In The Sky is one of my favorites.

Achievement Unlocked: TOTAL DOMINATION (Win a Werewolf Game without losing a single player on your team)

On reflection my favourite is actually Castle in teh Sky. In it's time it was the most full and accomlished Miyazaki film and it the first IMO to pull together the enviromental, social and personal tales that have always been so strong in his films since that time.

Also there's big cool ass robots that could kick that damn Kiki's ass.....

It's interesting how large a cross-section of different Miyazaki movies people voted for as their favorite. Although Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away dominate the poll, almost every movie has at least one vote.

Hugo Ozman wrote:According to Anime News Network, Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki revealed in an interview that studio co-founder Hayao Miyazaki's next film is "not the sort of work that everyone in the audience can relax and watch." He stated that Miyazaki intends to make something realistic about the current state of Japan in the aftermath of the tsunami and nuclear crisis.

It is well known that Hayao Miyazaki has been publicly verbal against the use of nuclear power. In March, he compared the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant crisis to the uncontrollable fire that humans received from the Greek deity Prometheus. Then in June, his Studio hang a banner on its rooftop stating "Studio Ghibli Wants to Make Movies With Electricity That Isn't From Nuclear Power." Miyazaki's strong stance against nuclear power was widely speculated as one of the reasons for Nippon Television's indefinite ban on the broadcast of his last film PONYO.

Suzuki has not revealed anything else about the project in this interview, but he previously announced that Miyazaki's new film will be a biography or autobiography. It seems likely that the story will be related to the topic of nuclear energy use and its danger. Fans of the great man will no doubt be curious to find out more about his new film, and it sure sounds like something that will be very different from his usual family-friendly animated films.

Tom Mes wrote:There is little doubt about Hayao Miyazaki's status as Japan's premiere animator. After such devastating successes as Porco Rosso and Princess Mononoke, not even the lure of early retirement could keep the most famous founding father of Studio Ghibli from delivering what would become the most successful film of all time in Japan: Spirited Away (Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi).

The interview below is a report of the debate / press conference Miyazaki gave in Paris in late December 2001, on the occasion of Spirited Away's first European screening at the animation festival Nouvelles images du Japon (during which the French government bestowed on him the title of 'Officier des Arts et des Lettres'). It contains questions from various people, including my own.

Hugo Ozman wrote:It is well known that Hayao Miyazaki has been publicly verbal against the use of nuclear power. In March, he compared the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant crisis to the uncontrollable fire that humans received from the Greek deity Prometheus.

What an odd thing to say. I for one like my fire very much, thank you, and I don't remember being it uncontrollable from the Prometheus myth either.

2. “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo): Hayao Miyazaki attracted widespread attention in Japan for his complex manga, ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” (1982), which he adapted to the screen two years later. In it, he began exploring elements he would develop more fully in his later films: daring heroines, exciting flying sequences, intriguing side characters and a plea for an ecologically sustainable way of life. Although “Nausicaä” was only his second feature, Miyazaki was already an assured and powerful filmmaker. (Read more)

Dave Trumbore wrote:Fans of Studio Ghibli will be happy to hear they’ve added two new films to their upcoming slate from two of the medium’s most acclaimed directors. First up from Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) comes The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu). Based on his most recent comic, The Wind Rises centers on Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed the Zero Fighter used by Japanese pilots in World War II. In an interesting note, the manga’s characters happen to be anthropomorphic pigs.

Also added to Studio Ghibli’s list is Princess Kaguya Story (Kaguya-Hime no Monogatari), the new film from director Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies). This film is based on the Japanese folk story, “Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” which was also referenced in Takahata’s 1999 work, My Neighbors the Yamadas. Hit the jump for a look at images from Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises manga.

GhibliCon (via DarkHorizons) brought the news of Studio Ghibli’s new films to our attention, as the studio has secured domain names for each of the film titles. Check out a selection of images from Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises manga below (via Tim Maughan Books):

Daniel Thomas MacInnes wrote:Toho, the film distributor of Studio Ghibli's movies in Japan, has acquired domain names for Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata's upcoming films - "Kaze Tachinu" (The Wind Rises) and "Kaguya-Hime no Monogatari" (Princess Kaguya Story). The official announcements on these films are expected in the coming days and weeks.

Kaze Tachinu is adapted from Miyazaki's most recent color comic, about the man who designed the Zero Fighter which was used in World War II. Princess Kaguya Story is an adaptation of the Japanese folk tale, "Tale of the Bamboo Cutter." This fable was referenced in Takahata's 1999 feature film, My Neighbors the Yamadas.

As I mentioned in my 2012 wrap-up, this was my favorite animated film of the year. However that was the subbed version, and while this may be silly, it seems almost insulting to think of a dubbed version of this particular story. True, I generally prefer subbing, but I'm not hard-line against watching a dub. It's just especially grating in this case due to the nature of a major theme in the film. More people will watch it this way though, so I guess it's not worth fussing over.

I think he had made plans to step down and hand the reins of Studio Ghibli over to his protege Yoshifumi Kondo in the mid-'90s, but he died unexpectedly while working on a film. And now that you mention it, I remember something about him retiring before his son Goro started directing as well. So I guess he has a hard time walking away. Hopefully he un-retires again, but he is getting up there in years.

I actually paid to rent the bluray of FROM UP ON POPPY HILL last week. I have kinda mixed feelings about it. The save the rec centre plotline resolving itself so ideally was fine, but I think the incest plotline getting resolved by that other guy just showing up and spouting exposition left me a bit unsatisfied. That just felt a little convenient, especially after having the bureaucrat/businessman who wanted to tear down the rec centre turn out to be this kind jolly Father Christmas type.

The tone was really nice, and I really liked the atmosphere Miyazaki created among the students. Overall, I liked it. But the resolution of the incest plotline could've been better.

I caught THE WIND RISES on the weekend and really loved it. I realize that Miyazaki's choice of subject matter is very prickly, and I understand how people in USA and China would find it offensive to see a romanticized portrayal of a man who built the machines that bombed their countries. I think if you're able to look past the politics there's a really deep movie here with perhaps Miyazaki's most complex protagonist. Miyazaki shows Jiro Horikoshi as a conflicted man caught in the tide of history. He is patriotic, he sees Japan working so hard and getting nowhere. He wants Japan to catch up with the west, but realizes that that will only bring new problems. On a personal level, he wants to design airplanes and the only way to live his dream is do so for the military which will use his planes in wars that he thinks are foolish and pointless.

Like usual, Miyazaki brings that bittersweet tone. It's a film that is somehow light and heavy at the same time. He really captures that feeling of being completely engaged in a creative project. Jiro's focus and passion go hand in hand. But I always felt the looming consequences.

I saw this film with the Disney English voice cast, who I think did a great job. Joseph Gordon Levitt voices Jiro. He gets most of the dialogue and does an excellent job capturing the character's passion and steadiness. Emily Blunt, sounding nothing like her usual self, voices the love interest. Werner Herzog's voice is instantly recognizeable and I smiled every time I heard him. Stanley Tucci is probably the weakest link, delivering a corny Super Mario style Italian accent. John Krasinksi is pretty funny as Jiro's colleague.

I think this movie is excellent. The storytelling is very romantic, and takes me back to the cinema of the 50s and 60s. I couldn't help think of stuff like David Lean's DOCTOR ZHIVAGO while watching this. Like usual, I hope this is not Miyazaki's last film, but if it is, it's a very good note to go out on.

CHARLES SOLOMON wrote:Viz is re-issuing the book with a new translation by Takami Nieda, and they’ve added some previously unpublished material. To keep the volume at 224 pages, the editors removed critic Mark Schilling’s introduction. Although it was interesting, the Introduction seemed both dated and unnecessary. Miyazaki’s films may not have found as large an American audience as they deserve, but his name and work are familiar to anyone interested in the art form.

Studio Ghibli: Perestroika!Apparently Miyazaki really really really did retire this time (until he makes another movie) and Ghibli is looking at how to move forward, possibly taking a break from producing movies. Upcoming release WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE may be the last film made using Ghibli's old approach of in-house animators.

“This is my guess, but I’m thinking it will be something short.” He explained that Miyazaki had talked to him about making a short film for the Ghibli Musuem in Mitaka, Tokyo.

Suzuki was appearing Thursday on the NHK morning show “Asa Ichi” to clarify his earlier statements about the 30 year old company.

“We’re changing the way we make (animation),” Suzuki said, without getting in specifics. “We wanted to make a dream company. We thought we would make what suited us and not make what didn’t suit us. We were able to realize (that dream) to some extent and we’re very happy about that. But now we’re at a point where we’ve got to think about what we’ll do next.”

In the TBS documentary Suzuki talked about Ghibli taking a hiatus from production to assess its future direction following the September 2013 retirement of Miyazaki, long the studio’s biggest hitmaker. His remarks, mistranslated by a blogger, started a storm of Internet chatter about the imminent end of Japan’s most successful feature animation.

Mark Schilling wrote:At age 73, Hayao Miyazaki is still capable of surprises. He has an atelier, just behind the main Studio Ghibli building, on a narrow and quiet street in a suburb of Tokyo. Surrounded by trees, it looks like the sort of rustic resort cottage a well-off Japanese with European tastes might build in the mountains. When his assistant escorted Variety through the gate, Miyazaki was in the midst of chopping wood – his preferred method of stress relief. With a big grin and a firm handshake, he walked his visitor into his studio and work space in the center of huge, high-ceiling room. On a big wooden table (think a picnic table with chairs instead of benches) was a holder containing dozens of colored pencils and other drawing paraphernalia. Without missing a beat, Miyazaki sat down and started penciling a sketch for a manga that has occupied him since his retirement last year. The esteemed animator talked about his Governors Award (which he will receive Saturday night), the Oscars, about his future animation plans and the changing world of films.

Q: What was your reaction on hearing about Oscar’s Governors Award?

A: I thought “Somebody must have been pulling strings.” Maybe John Lasseter. He’s my number one supporter there, so I thought he must have been behind it; though that’s pure speculation on my part. I’m not the kind of person who wants more awards (laughs). Lasseter invited me over to his place, since this may be my last (trip to the States). I don’t want to go, to be honest — I don’t like riding airplanes. (laughs)

Q: The Tokyo Festival is screening a Hideaki Anno retro this year. Not long ago your producer, Toshio Suzuki, said Anno would be the leader of the Japanese animation industry for the next ten years. Do you agree?

A: Anno is a friend of mine so I wish him the best of luck. It will be hard work though. The kind of animation he loves, made with paper and pencils, is dying. I still plan on doing small projects with paper and pencils, but no more feature films.

Q: You were talking about making short films for the Ghibli Museum.

A: We’ve already released a few and I will continue to make them. I have plans for other projects as well.

Q: Do you have working titles? Any details you can share with me?

A: Not yet.

Q: I’ve heard that you’re working on a new manga.

A: Yes, but it keeps getting pushed behind other projects (laughs). I can’t work on it as much as I’d like to.

Q: Is it set in the samurai days?

A: Yes, it is but I have my doubts as to whether I can finish it or not. I wanted to put a lot of effort into it, ignoring costs, like a hobby. I thought I’d have free time, but I keep getting project offers. Not necessarily lucrative ones, but they have a significance for me.

Q: Are you here every day?

A: Yes I am. I’ve recently changed my work schedule to five days a week. I didn’t know what to do with myself taking three days off a week. (laughs) I try to take Saturdays and Sundays off, though.

Q: So you don’t go on long trips?

A: Well I’m going to go to Kamikochi (a mountain resort area north of Tokyo) for a week. It’s the off season then, so there are less people.

Q: When I visited Studio Ghibli in the past, it was always busy. What is the atmosphere like there now?

Q: There are rumors that Ghibli is going to focus on managing intellectual rights and abandon feature filmmaking.

[Assistant: That’s not going to happen.]

A: I’m working with the museum staff, but as for the whole of Ghibli, I don’t know anymore. I don’t want to get involved in that sort of thing. I’ll be here as long as they let me do what I want to do.

Let me show you what I’m doing now (holds up a drawing of a globe on the back of a turtle). See, this is an island called Kumejima in Okinawa. In this picture, Kumejima is on the top and the rest of Japan is upside down. I don’t know what the islanders will think, but it’s a symbol I made (laughs). It’s a very beautiful island. They made a recreation facility so that they can bring over children and their parents from Fukushima (Note: The site of the March 11, 2011 nuclear disaster). There they can play outside, get stronger, and toughen their immune system. There are parts of Fukushima where children can no longer play outside, you know. I’ve been asked to help this with project so I agreed to make this symbol for them (laughs). This has occupied me quite a bit.

Q: Is your son Goro going to take over Studio Ghibli? It seems that he has been preparing for that role. (Note: Goro Miyazaki has directed two films for Studio Ghibli, both box office hits.)

A: No, I don’t think like that. Individual ability should be the deciding factor. It’s not something to inherit like property. I think my son would be against the idea as well.

Q: Goro has teamed up with the digital animation studio Polygon to make “Ronia the Robber’s Daughter” for television. He made use of 3-D computer graphics, though the program has the look of traditional Japanese animation. What do you think of that trend?

A: I think talent decides everything. More than the method, what’s important is the talent using it. There’s nothing inherently wrong or right about a method, whether it be pencil drawings or 3-D CG. Pencil drawings don’t have to go away, but those who continue to use the medium lack talent. So sadly, it will fade away.

I intend to work until the day I die. I retired from feature-length films but not from animation. Self-indulgent animation (laughs). It’s nice that I have the mini-theater in the museum. Most of the museum visitors attend the mini-theater screenings and we’ve never had a complaint about the quality of the films. I’d like to continue to make films that leave the audience satisfied, but I also think it’s pointless unless I offer them the kind of animation they can’t get anywhere else. They’re fun to do. They’re short so it’s less stressful.

[Assistant: Have you ever started making a short film and it became longer than you intended?]

A: A little bit, but I know the limits I’m working with and some stories have to be told succinctly. It’s a good opportunity for me to experiment and learn. I won’t be in charge of the massive staff at Studio Ghibli, but I will continue to make short films for the museum.

Q: It seems that with the bigger projects, made with a bigger staff, you have to think more about appealing to the audience. If the audience doesn’t come, you can’t make those kinds of films.

A: It’s challenging, but you always have to appeal to your audience. You always have to consider how well your project will do in terms of admissions. I abandoned many stories because of that. But I don’t get too down about it. It’s something I accepted from the time I decided to work in films. I could always do something else if I got sick of it, like draw manga, or make my own films like (the late Canadian animator) Frederic Back. But my own tastes are more pop than art (laughs) and that’s how I’ll continue to work. I found it pointless sitting in my house not working, though I’d like to go on extended vacations from time to time.

Q: It takes a lot of perseverance to do what you did.

A: Yes, I have more perseverance than I used to think I did. I think my work toughened me. I learned to find time to switch off, by chopping logs.

Q: You’ve said that too many young animators are otaku (obsessed fans) who have little real-life experience. All they know is the world of anime.

A: That trend still exists and it takes away from the power of Japanese animation and manga. It was inevitable, though. I managed to work for 51 years with just paper, pencils and film. My wife told me the other day that I should be thankful for that.’You’re a lucky man,’ she said. My son’s generation and the one coming up after can’t work with just paper and pencils any more so I can’t tell you how that’s going to turn out. I managed to avoid using a computer. I don’t even have a cellphone. I feel lucky I managed to live like that. (laughs)

Q: Some generations have it better than others, that’s true.

A: Yes, my elders had to quit their jobs to go off to war. Many couldn’t fulfill their ambitions because of circumstances beyond their control. I’ve managed to keep working using the same methods and tools for 51 years, right up until the time film became obsolete. I’m very lucky in that regard. I attribute my success to luck. Who knows how my making films for the museum will turn out, but you don’t have to know the future. I’m just mucking about, trying to figure my next project. (laughs)

Patrick Brzeski wrote:Renowned for his richly detailed, hand-drawn approach to animation — in films such as Spirited Away, winner of the 2003 best animation Oscar and Japan’s highest-grossing movie of all time — Miyazaki also confirmed rumors that he has begun experimenting with computer graphics.

"I have just begun work on a new anime," Miyazaki told reporters at a rare press conference held at the studio he founded, adding: "It's a wonderful project. I’m working with some of my usual staff, as well as some staff from the computer graphics world."

The 10-minute CGI short is being developed for screening at the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo. It will feature the story of a caterpillar named Boro. Miyazaki said his producer has predicted the film will take three years to complete, but the director added that he's working hard in hopes of finishing it sooner.

JOSEPH MCCABE wrote:Where would we be without Hayao Miyazaki? Not only has the Japanese filmmaker made the most beautiful animated movies in the world, he’s made some of the most beautiful movies ever– period. That’s why it was so heartening to hear the recent news that, at seventy-four years of age (when most men golf or garden or simply groan), Miyazaki is making another movie. In the meantime, fans can experience a few gems from his career they most likely haven’t seen before in a forthcoming comprehensive Blu-ray box set, the details of which Disney has just shared with us.

Due out exclusively from Amazon on November 17th, The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki contains each of the maestro’s eleven feature films: Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, and The Wind Rises.

But the highlight for those who already own all of these films on Blu-ray will be the set’s bonus features, including Yuki no Taiyo (Yuki’s Sun) — a 1972 television pilot based on a manga by Tetsuya Chiba that was directed, storyboarded and animated by Hayao Miyazaki. The set also contains three episodes (26, 27, and 41) of the 1972 anime series Akado Suzunosuk (Little Samurai), featuring storyboards by the filmmaker. Fans will also get the uncut version of Miyazaki’s Retirement Press Conference, which was thankfully not the final page in his career. The whole package is rounded off with a book featuring The Great Dichotomy: Looking at the Works of Hayao Miyazaki by Tomohiro Machiyama, which “explores the themes and techniques of this revered Japanese filmmaker, and selected text from Hayao Miyazaki’s initial notes and creative proposals for the production of each film.”

Are you as much of a Miyazaki maniac as I am? Are you excited for this box set? Let us know below!

Lynzee Loveridge wrote:He previously stated that while he does not think that hand drawn animation is better that CG animation, he believes the former is dying out because current animators are not talented.

Casey Baseel wrote:Your Name is now the highest-earning non-Hayao Miyazaki-directed anime movie in history, and it’s even surpassed the legendary Studio Ghibli co-founder’s final feature film, The Wind Rises.

The Telegraph:Your Name review: this dazzling, gleaming daydream is anime at its very best